1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a new or refilled fluid container and manufacturing or reusing the fluid container each of which can be suitably applied to, for example, an ink cartridge for a printer, though not limited thereto.
2. Related Art
In the technical field to which the invention pertains, though not limited thereto, an ink-jet printer is known as one example of a variety of liquid ejecting apparatuses that ejects liquid drops from the nozzles of a liquid ejecting head. Some of ink-jet printers have “off-carriage” ink supply systems. In the configuration of off-carriage-type ink-jet printers, ink cartridges are detachably attached to attachment positions that are not provided on a carriage. Such an off-carriage-type ink supply system is adopted, for example, in a case where each of ink cartridges is required to have a relatively large volume because a printer is dedicated to large-sized paper printing. As another non-limiting example thereof, an off-carriage-type ink supply system is advantageously adopted so as to reduce the size of a carriage with no ink cartridges mounted thereon, thereby reducing the size of a printer and achieving a slim body thereof.
As a non-limiting example of the attachment positions mentioned above, each of ink cartridges is attached to a main-body-side receptacle of an ink-jet printer having an off-carriage-type ink supply system. Ink is supplied from the ink cartridge via an ink supply tube to, for example, a sub tank that is provided in a carriage. These days, there is an increasing demand for high-speed and finer-dot printing. Accordingly, the amount of ink that flows through the ink supply tube is on the rise. As the amount of ink that flows through the ink supply tube increases, so does the stagnation pressure of ink inside the ink supply tube. As a result of the increase in the stagnation pressure of ink, the actual amount of ink that is supplied to the sub tank decreases, which is an undesirable phenomenon.
In an effort to provide a technical solution to such a problem, JP-A-2001-212973 discloses an ink cartridge that is capable of forcibly “pumping” ink out of an ink pack. Specifically, the ink cartridge described in JP-A-2001-212973 has an ink pack, which is a bag that contains ink, inside the case thereof. Air is taken into an inner space between the ink cartridge case and the ink pack. As the ink pack is pressurized, ink contained therein is forcibly pressed out of the ink pack.
An ink outlet member is connected to the ink pack. The ink outlet member has a valve mechanism. The ink cartridge case has an opening through which the ink outlet member is exposed to the outside. A sheet of sealing film is adhered to an end surface of the ink outlet member and a peripheral region of the ink cartridge case around the opening by means of a thermal adhesion technique so as to form a liquid-tight structure. An example of such a liquid-tight structure is described in JP-A-2005-59322 (among others, refer to FIG. 5 thereof).
The ink outlet member has an ink flow channel (i.e., ink passage) inside thereof. A sealing member, a valve member, and a coil spring (i.e., helical spring) are provided in the ink flow channel. The sealing member is made of an elastic ring. The sealing member is in tight contact with the inner wall of the ink flow channel. The valve member is movable and can become in contact with the sealing member. The coil spring applies a pressing force to the valve member so that the valve member is pressed against (i.e., contacts) the sealing member. When an ink take-out needle (e.g., an hollow needle which takes ink therein and supplies the ink to a print head) is inserted through the sealing film, the ink take-out needle enters the ink flow channel. Before the ink take-out needle is inserted through the sealing film so as to enter the ink flow channel, the sealing member functions as a valve seat member that blocks off the ink flow channel because the coil spring urges the valve member so that the valve member is pressed against the sealing member. When the ink take-out needle pierces through the sealing film so as to enter the ink flow channel, the valve member comes away from the sealing member against the urging force applied from the coil spring thereto because the ink take-out needle presses the valve member away from the sealing member. As a result thereof, the ink flow channel, which had been blocked before the ink take-out needle was inserted through the sealing film, becomes cleared.
After the ink flow channel is opened, it is required that ink should flow only through an ink conduit that is formed inside the ink take-out needle. In order to ensure that ink flows only through the ink conduit that is formed inside the ink take-out needle, in the configuration of the related art, the sealing member, which is made of an elastic ring as explained above, provides elastic sealing between the ink take-out needle and the sealing member as well as between the sealing member and the inner wall of the ink flow channel.
Disadvantageously, however, if the precision in the actual circularity of the ink flow channel of the ink outlet member is poor, or in other words, if the margin of errors in the actual roundness of the ink flow channel of the ink outlet member is large, it is practically impossible, or at best difficult, to provide perfect sealing between the sealing member and the inner wall of the ink flow channel. As a consequence thereof, the leakage of ink occurs. In addition, in a case where the configuration disclosed in the first-mentioned unexamined patent application publication (JP-A-2001-212973), which applies a pressure to the ink pack so as to pump out ink in a forcible manner, is adopted, there is an additional risk that pressure-supplied ink breaks (i.e., unseals) the elastic sealing between the sealing member and the inner wall of the ink flow channel if the elastic sealing provided therebetween is not at a sufficiently reliable liquid-tight level. In addition to the above-described case, there is a possibility that the elastic sealing between the sealing member and the inner wall of the ink flow channel could be broken temporarily if the ink cartridge is inadvertently dropped or if any unexpected vibration is applied to the ink cartridge from the outside.
It should be noted that the above-identified problem is not unique to the ink cartridge. That is, the same problem also arises in a variety of other applications in which elastic sealing is provided between a sealing member and the inner wall of a fluid flow channel that is formed in a fluid outlet member. For example, regardless of whether it has an off-carriage-type ink supply system or an on-carriage-type ink supply system, a typical printer has the same kind of ink outlet members as that described above at a plurality of connection portions of the ink flow channel thereof. The same sealing structure as that described above is adopted in a liquid fuel outlet member provided in a liquid fuel cartridge as described in JP-A-2003-331879 (among others, refer to FIG. 5 thereof). Moreover, in addition to those of printers, the same sealing structure as that described above could be adopted in a variety of connection portions of the fluid flow channels that encompass both liquid and gas flow channels.